January 8, 2015

I wanted to wear a skirt suit to work today. It was -12 when I left for the office at 6:15 for an early meeting. I decided that my tights probably weren't enough so I put my long johns on over those, wool socks, my great winter boots and my dog walking coat (think puffy down) and off I went. Thank goodness for my seatwarmers in the car. Best invention ever!

I may have been a fashion don't but I didn't get frost bite either! I really hope this arctic turn of the temperature goes back north where it came from really, really, really soon.

I did make a start on my Heart in Hand piece but didn't get too far on Monday. It's been a crazy buzy week back and I've been quite tired after work. I've also been trying to get my scarf for the upcoming Maine Special Olympics done so stitching has taken a back seat to crochet this week.

Tonight at knit night, I started weaving in the ends so that it wouldn't all have to be done at the end. I'm off to put a few more rows before crashing into bed. TGIF tomorrow - yeah!

I plan to do some serious blog hopping this weekend to see what you all have started for the new year. I know there are some crazy challenges going on so I'm guessing there will be a lot of things to see.

January 5, 2015

I went to visit a friend in Connecticut for the weekend and didn't bother to take any stitching with me as I new I would probably not have any time to stitch and that was true. However, I did get home relatively early on Sunday and had some time in the evening to work on my Plum Street "Welcome" ornie. The crow's tale is done and I've started in on the upper half of the body.

Not sure if I will pick this up again tonight as I feel the need to make a start on the HIH heart I want to get done for my sister's birthday.

I hope those of you experiencing this arctic weather blast are keeping warm. The dog (unfortunately) did not seem to mind it tonight and I forced myself to go back out to the gym but I'm glad for my warm down coat! These are the temps that make me long for Florida again.

January 2, 2015

THE Ohio State rolled the Tide last night and although I'm a huge fan of the Crimson Tide, I'm a very proud member of Buckeye Nation so I had to root for my alma mater last night. So very happy for such a talented and hard working football team! On the the next one....

January 1, 2015

I didn't stay up to see the new year in - did you? I spent some time sorting through my stash to come up with what projects I wanted to start off 2015 with. After that I tried to get engaged in some bowl game football but ended up going to bed by 10:00pm.

Here's what I came up with for project starts for January. I signed up for the 2015 Smalls SAL after seeing it on Anna's blog and I knew right away what smalls I was going to focus on. A couple of years ago, a private group I stitch with did a kitted ornament exchange for both Christmas and Halloween and I have not touched any of those kits. This will be the year I focus on getting some of them completed, starting with Halloween.

My January small will be Plum Street's Welcome and despite a busy day cooking, cleaning and putting away my Christmas decorations, I have a few stitches in.

Next up is a gift for one of my sister's. She's always admired my finished 2002 Collector's Heart by HIH so I've kitted it up and probably should have started that first given her birthday is February 23rd.

I think my next choice was definitely influenced by Rite Aid as I went in to pick up a prescription on Monday and they were already stocking the shelves with Valentine's Day merchandise. Sheesh! I have very little Valentine's Day items stitched so I thought this little piece would fit the bill. It's Trilogy's Love Tree.

And finally is a larger project for me. This is an older Cricket Collection that I picked up on vacation two years ago. It's Walk in the Woods and I tested out the DMC on a piece of R&R 18th Century Green that I have in my stash that I've been trying to use. I did some test stitching of the boarder and it's obvious the fabric is too dark. I switched to a piece of 32ct cream linen I had in my stash and hope to get started on this one soon.

One thing I am going to try and do this year is keep a stitching journal. I have started out logging all of these projects with the fabric and fibers and will track the start and finish days and how I finish them. I never do this and I would like to see how long these projects take me to completed.

I also hope to complete one of my WIPocolypse pieces as I've still got quite a few of these and I've manged to finish at least one each of the past two years.

I also have several knitting and crochet projects planned but for now I'm in the mood to stitch so I shall.